


World of War

by TheSparklyKitten



Series: Azeroth Hero AU [2]
Category: Warcraft III, World of Warcraft
Genre: Family Fluff, Holiday Shenanigans, Holidays, Other, Pet Lynxes, Pre-Warcraft III, Some Humor, Some Warcraft Lore, Trans Female Character, Windrunner Family, characters will be tagged as they appear, mean girls being mean girls for a chapter, minor transphobia (like very minor don't worry), some fluff before going into feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:16:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27622598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSparklyKitten/pseuds/TheSparklyKitten
Summary: After the Second War with the Orcs, Merledai Sunrunner, first cousin of Sylvanas Windrunner and his wife Ranger Reyn Sunrunner welcome their new children into the world. Lireth and Allara Sunrunner. While Lireth is content to follow his family's footsteps in becoming a ranger and perhaps ranger-general, Allara dreams bigger, but willing to put it aside to protect her people.But she gets her wish when her mother disappears to Loredaron as a plague ravages the land, and soon she is plummeted into the unknown with her bonded lynx Lucy by her side.Is becoming a hero truly what Allara dreamed of? Or will the fire of adventure be her undoing?
Relationships: Jaina Proudmoore & Sylvanas Windrunner, Sylvanas Windrunner & Original Female Character
Series: Azeroth Hero AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1426777
Comments: 14
Kudos: 3





	1. Birth of a Heroine

In the lands of Quel’Thalas, in Windrunner village, the village named after the legendary family of rangers and ranger-generals, few were awake at this hour.

Except for the Sunrunner household, although different in name-sake, they had the Windrunner blood through their veins, well at least Merledai Sunrunner did.

“If you keep pacing around like that, you’re going to burn your legs.” Merledai looked up, a pair of glowing blue eyes stared at him. 

“Very funny Sylvanas.” He snapped at his cousin. “Pardon me for being worried about my wife.” Of all the hours for her to still be delivering their child, it had to be now.

“Of course, Veressa and I felt the same way when Alleria had Arator.” She winked, referring to her older sister’s nephew. “If she could safely deliver a human-elf child, then Reyn delivering a regular elf won’t be terrible. And she’s already done it before with Verea.”   
“I know.” Merledai sighed. “But Verea was a Glowflower child, not a Windrunner.” At least his step-daughter was helping her mom deliver her new half-sibling. “I just don’t want to lose her like I lost my parents, my brother--”   
“And Lirah.” They stayed silent, thinking about the relatives they lost during the war with the bloodlusted orcs. Ironically, that was how Reyn and Merledai met, she connected with him over the loss of her husband, and he connected with her over the loss of his nuclear family.   
“I was thinking about naming the child Lirah, if it’s a boy.” Merledai hummed. “And Alleria if it’s a girl.”   
Sylvanas stared at him with a neutral expression. “As honoring as I would be if you named a child after my late siblings, perhaps don’t.”   
“Right, maybe I could mix up the words.” He didn’t blame her. “Let’s see.. I guess Lireth for a boy, and what else?”   
“Allara.” Sylvanas ran a hand through her sun-touched locks. “It was a name I wanted to name a daughter, if I had any. But the idea of having one…” She flicked an ear as Reyn’s screams from labor got loud. “Irks me.”   
“I don’t blame you. Sunwell bless your parents for having four.” Merledai nodded. “Hope we have a girl then. I can just raise them the same way my dad raised me.”

“Like what? Trapezing through the Eversong Woods hunting?”   
“I was not-- I caught a troll one time!”   
“Of course you did.”   
“Grrrr Sylvanas--”   
“Ahem.” Reyn’s first daughter, Verea stepped out of the room. “Merledai, Ranger-General.” She bowed.   
Sylvanas waved it off. “Is Reyn alright?”   
“Yes.” Verea nodded. “The delivery was hard on her, but she’s ready to accept visitors.”   
“Did the baby come out okay?” Merledai questioned.   
“See for yourself.”   
  


As her cousin walked to see his wife, Sylvanas trailed behind with Verea. “You’re shaping yourself to be a good priest.” She told the apprentice. “Prince Kael’Thas mentioned you during the war.”   
“Oh.” Verea blushed. “Did he? We’re good acquaintances, but I’m not that important.”   
“I wouldn’t sell yourself short, you saved the lives of many of my rangers.” She explained. “I can see why the prince has interest in you.” It was amusing seeing her sputter red.   
“I--um... er. Good talk!” Verea caught up to Merledai, who was opening the door, and gasped.   
“Reyn! There’s two!” Curious, Sylvanas sped up her pace, when opening the door, she saw what the fuss was about.

Instead of one newborn child, Reyn had two newborns she was suckling. “Twins.” Sylvanas murmured. While it wasn’t impossible for an elf to have children through non-magical means due to their race’s low infertility, twins, even triplets were difficult to conceive. “That’s Windrunner blood for you.”   
“Oh, shut up.” Reyn barked back. “I don’t want to hear it from the elf who can’t function when there’s a pretty woman talking to her.” Needless to say, the Ranger-General’s ears turned pink. 

“They’re beautiful.” Merledai hummed. “I guess we don’t have to try and conceive another.”   
“Light, please, no. Not again.” The ranger groaned. “Delivering these two was painful enough.”   
“Even more painful than I?” Verea pouted.   
“At least you didn’t wake up in the crack of dawn!” Sylvanas barked with laughter, Merledai chuckled, continuing to play with his newborn children. “Little Alleria and Lirath are mouthfuls.”   
“Alleria and Lirath?” Merledai frowned. “Oh, right. You didn’t hear our conversation.”    
“Of course you changed the names at the last minute.” Reyn sighed. “Do you have any other name suggestions?”   
“Well, I think it’s too soon to give relatives the same name as their namesakes.” Sylvanas sighed. “Merledai and I decided Lireth for any boys, and Allara for any girls.” She twitched an ear. “But they’re both good names for boys.”    
“Lireth and Allara…” Verea hummed. “Strong names for strong Sunrunners. The blood of the Glowflowers and Windrunners means both of them have big destinies.”   
As if to argue, Lireth made a whining noise. “He has other plans in mind.” Merledai chuckled, continuing to hold Allara, they both had golden blonde hair similar to Sylvanas, but who knows if it’d turn red like he did. His youngest son opened his eyes, to reveal quite the surprise.. One of his eyes was blue like most Quel’dorei, but the other was green. “I hope that’s not a bad sign.”   
“The eyes?” Verea shook her head. “Lireth has the same eyes as Allara, except the green eye is on the left. Some elves whose parents were hit by fel magic have those eyes and they’re all healthy with no signs of fel. We think that some of the genetics were tweaked when elves like yourself got hit with fel, and those green eyes are just added into the gene pool, no big harm.” 

“Still.” He thought back to how some of his fellow elves and even the arrogant humans shunned him. “I don’t want them to be given a hard time.”   
Sylvanas growled at the idea of some arrogant noble trying to hurt her little cousins because of their strange eyes. “I’ll just remind them why I’m Ranger-General for a reason.”   
“Please don’t.”

* * *

It was a few years later until Sylvanas could meet her baby cousins in person again, but at least Reyn and Merledai updated her with letters.  _ Damn those stuffy nobles keeping me busy with their political drama.  _ While being a ranger didn’t mean fighting the Horde and villains all day, she also had to keep the peace in Quel’Thalas. Lately, so many folk were getting on each other's nerves, perhaps due to the borders being closed.  _ Not that it stopped folk.  _ Many elves like her cousin Merledai still travelled to human cities, it was just near impossible getting humans to visit. And she herself had visited Dalaran since her little sister moved. As her horse walked into Windrunner village, townsfolk chattered.   
“It’s the Ranger General!”   
“Blessing of the sun be with you Lady Sylvanas!”   
“She’s prettier than what my mother said.”   
“I wanna be just like you when I’m a ranger!”   
“Ranger-General!” Until she stopped at the Sunrunner house, dismounted her horse, and a red blur tackled her. The few passerbys gasped as the blur bit down on one of her ears, but Sylvanas calmly removed the lynx.

“Lucy, no!” A young girl with gold hair turning cherry red picked up the lynx. “We don’t bite strangers!” She stared up at the lady with her green and blue eyes. “I’m sorry ma’am. Lucy is still learning basic manners.” The lynx in her arm grumbled.  
“It’s alright, taming a lynx is hard work.” She wiped the drying blood in her ear, there were a few bumps where the lynx bit her. _Little Moon’s gonna never let me live it down when she finds out._ “You’re doing good so far considering Lucy is still in your arms.”  
“Thanks!” She beamed. “Lucy doesn’t like the neighbor, I think she mistook you as her.” Lucy meowed in agreement. “She’s not nice to Minn’da.”  
“I see.” As the passersby elves went on their own way, she stared down at the two. “Are any of your parents home, Allara?”  
“Ann’da’s home! Minn’da is still at work.” Then she frowned. “How do you know my name?”  
“Allara!” A little boy around her age ran up to her. “I heard from Seri that they saw the Ranger-General--” Then he froze, looking up at Sylvanas. “You’re her!”  
“Yes, I am.” She nodded. “And you two are Lireth and Allara Sunrunner, my cousins.” Sylvanas winked, nearly giggling when she saw their eyes go starstruck. “I haven’t seen you since you were very little.”  
“How little?” Allara frowned. “Was I as small as Lucy?” Said lynx growled. “Sorry!”  
“Small as any baby, you were so little you didn’t have any of your dad’s messy red hair.” She ruffled Allara’s. “But you wear it better than him.”  
“Hey!” Speaking of the devil, Merledai appeared. “You visit for the first time in years, and you’re making fun of my hair, rude!”  
“Do you mind continuing this over a cup of tea?”  
“Fine…”  
  
Allara was still looking up at her after the two adults were sitting by the table. She raised her hand. “Yes?” Sylvanas stared at the six year-old girl.  
“Minn’da said Lireth and I were named after your siblings.” She noted. “And before my hair went red, people said I looked like you.”  
“I see.” The Ranger-General hummed, while Lireth looked like a mix of his parents, Allara could easily be mistaken for her were it not for the red locks. “Well it is true, if it weren’t for me, your father with terrible naming skills would’ve given you the same name.”  
“Hey!” Merledai huffed. “Must you continue to make fun of me?”  
“Always.”

Lireth found it funny. “Haha! Ann’da’s bad at naming, he named Mom’s hawkstrider Plucky!” 

Sylvanas nearly spat her tea. “Plucky?!” She turned to her cousin. “You dare name a noble hawkstrider Plucky?”

“I thought it was cool!”   
“It’s not.” Both twins stated, Lucy meowed in agreement.    
Allara cleared her throat. “Does that mean we’ll be rangers like you one day?”   
“If you want to.” She replied. “Maybe you’d like to be a priest like your big sister.” Then turned to Merledai. “How is Verea?”   
“Still looking after her kids.” Merledai replied. “Reyn keeps asking who the father of her triplets are, I don’t because it’s her business.” He took a swig of his tea. “And frankly, I don’t care since at least the twins get to be an aunt and uncle.”

“Being an uncle is cool!” Lireth shouted. “But Ralden, Velarise, and Tanven are too little to play with.”   
“They’re babies, dummy.” Allara pouted. “Of course they’re little.”   
“Hey!”   
“Children--”   
“Sorry Ann’da.” They chorused. 

“I wanna be a hero like cousin Alleria.” Allara stated. “And save the world!”   
Sylvanas chuckled with amusement. “Well as long as you eat your veggies and go to bed on time, you’ll grow to be one.”   
“Ewww.”   
“It’s the truth. Good Ranger-Generals eat vegetables.”   
“Well I wanna be Ranger-General.” Lireth declared. “And maybe Allara and I will beat up demons and trolls together!”   
“Yeah!” She hugged her brother. “And Lucy can beat up orcs!” The lynx meowed in agreement.   
“Well, I’ll try my best to visit and see the future heroes of Azeroth.” Sylvanas smirked. “Although you could visit Windrunner Spire.” She glared at Merledai. “I’m able to do  _ some _ work at home.”   
“Fine.” He rolled his eyes. 

* * *

It would be the first of many encounters Allara had with her cousin growing up. While she and Lireth’s destinies appeared to be laid out for them, Verea knew otherwise. On the night of their birth, the Light told her that her siblings would bring change to Azeroth, and “break the cycle.” Verea suspected they’d stop the trolls who killed her father, but it was more than killing in battle.

For the Sunrunner twins, and especially little Allara, who had the mighty Windrunner blood in her veins, she’d bring change to the world.

And her story was just beginning, although sadly her childhood had to end shorter than usual.


	2. Childhood Snippets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moments of Allara's childhood before she ever saw any events of war or destruction.

“And most importantly, a ranger must be--”  
“Swift.” Chorused the students.   
“That’s very good.” _Not good enough if it has to be drilled into our brains._ Allara frowned. As much as she knew about rangers, she, like every juvenile trainee, had to be given practice lessons. Some of the rangers in town like their instructor Lyven would teach future rangers like her some of the basics. Basics she already knew.

“Allara!” Her ears perked up as Lyven glared with his glowing blue eyes. “Can you explain why rangers learn to navigate the trees?”  
 _That’s a new one._ She thought of her mother’s war stories before answering. “Because… because our enemies the trolls walk on the ground, by learning to patrol by trees, we can take out any intruders easily, and we see better high up. And that way not every ranger has to ride a dragonhawk.” 

“Very good.” He nodded. “Allara is correct. Rangers learn to climb and navigate trees for us to earn our swift reputation, and besides, the trolls are too sluggish to move nimbly as us elves.” The class snickered with amusement. “Today, we will be going out into the woods and teaching you the basics of tree-climbing.”  
By her lap, Lucy meowed a complaint, several other lynxes as well. “And for those of you with pets, you’ll be getting some extra training.”   
“Oh, fun.” Lireth rolled his eyes.   
“I heard that young man.” The class giggled again. “Come on, we’ll do some exercises to warm up.”

They were jogging through the woods now, Allara scanned the foliage and golden trees as she panted.  
“Hey.” She muffled a groan as one of her classmates, Talina Dawnbright, a golden-haired elf with sky-blue eyes ran up to her. “Just wanted to let you know _Mud_ runner that me and my lynx Winter will be the top hunters today.”   
“Sure.” Allara rolled her eyes. “Your white lynx will be easy to spot in the trees. Like last training exercise.” Talina scoffed and jogged back into her posse, who were snickering to the smackdown.   
Lireth smirked. “Nice one, Allara.” They high-fived. “If you need help today, I can lend you a hand.” Her twin flexed a muscle. “I’m very strong, after-all!”   
Lucy rolled her eyes. _Same Luce, same…_

They were at least an hour away from Windrunner Village before they stopped jogging and doing certain exercises. “Okay, now, I want you all to go into the forest and climb a tree, once doing that you must find your way back to the village only by navigating the trees.” The instructor told them. “You should be able to head back by sunset, if you’re good rangers.” Several students groaned. “Good luck!”

“Uhg, c’mere Luce.” Allara hoisted her lynx onto her back, and went for a sturdy oak.

“Ha! Look at Lame-ara Mudrunner!” Talina taunted. “Troll-elf’s going for the smallest tree!”  
“Stop calling me troll-elf!” Allara shouted back. _You get good at learning Zandali one time… and suddenly you’re part troll._ Learning the troll’s language would be good at deciphering messages, their instructor informed, and even threw a bit of Orcish into the lesson. She and Lireth were good at that lesson. One of the more popular elves in the village Kreiel, complimented her at the time, which was the start of Talina’s childish bullying. “It’s called strategy.” She wouldn’t waste any more breath arguing with the brat, and chuckled as Talina got so busy slurring insults, she fell off the tree she picked.   
“You’re on a roll.” Lireth told her, they both were working together for this lesson, rangers were a team after-all.   
“Thanks.” They got to the middle before navigating, luckily Lucy was a better tree-climber than most lynxes. She was able to check which branch was good, and which branch was bad, so they took their time, conserving energy while their classmates tried rushing and fell. “Seri’s gonna feel that one in the morning.” She gestured to Lireth’s friend, he squinted and saw strawberry-red poking from behind a bush.

“Ouch.” He winced. “I’m gonna bring that up tomorrow.” They both giggled. Jumping to another tree. A branch cracked. “Was that you?”  
“No.” Allara shook her head, she readied her bow, the simple training bows they handed out to each student. “Maybe it’s a dragonhawk?”   
“A ranger’s one, wild ones don’t frequent here.” Another branch cracked, this time with strange words being spoken. “What the--”   
“BOO!”   
“AAAAH!” They screamed and fell off the branch, Lireth screamed louder as they fell. 

A shrieking laugh followed. “Ha-ha! You two idiots fell for it!” Talina taunted, her lynx, Winter, laughing as well. “Chickens!”  
“Talina!” Allara shook her fist at her. “You jerk!” She then saw her twin still screaming in pain. “Lireth?”   
“My leg!” He wailed in agony. “It hurts!” She panicked and ran over, seeing the leg was bent in an unusual way. _He broke it during the fall._

The bully did not look sympathetic at all. “Guess Lireth didn’t stick the landing.” She then got an arrow shot at her. “Allara what the--”  
“SHUT UP! You could’ve killed Lireth!” Another arrow broke the branch, and once Talila fell she pounced. Her fists started wailing on the elf’s face, nails clawing her ears, and her body pinning Talina to the tree’s roots so she couldn’t escape. The only reason she stopped was because both their lynxes dragged Allara off of Talina as her face turned black and blue with blood.

Talina placed a hand to her bleeding nose, and screamed. “Y-you demon! You freak!” And ran off, with Winter flashing them a sympathetic frown as he followed his owner.  
All Allara could do in that moment is try to comfort her brother, until he passed out from unconciousnees. “Oh, Lireth.” She murmured. “I’m sorry.”

By the time someone found Allara carrying her brother back to town, it was almost night.

* * *

“Meow?” Lucy looked up at her owner. It had been a while since the leg incident, both were excused from lessons as Lireth was still injured, as for Allara...

“I don’t know what to feel.” Allara frowned. “I wanted to kill Talina in that moment, Lireth would have broken his neck from the fall if it wasn’t his leg.” She did feel a little bad for focusing on murdering Talina instead of checking on Lireth more, considering the bully didn’t even feel remorse for injuring her brother and kept saying she was a death knight incarnate. Only the narrow-minded elves who listened to Talina believed such lies, but she wouldn’t bother her or Lireth again.  
“Indeed.” She saw her dad entering the room, he sat next to her. “I’m worried about how upset you are at this.” He lifted her up. “C’mon, we’re going out of the house for a bit.”   
“To do what?” Allara frowned, as Lucy went for the door. “You’re going to trade in Dalaran, again?”   
“No, we’re going hunting.”

They were deep in the woods, crouching through the ground. Allara noticed her father picked a spot away from… the incident. “I was so scared a troll got you in the woods that day.” He rambled. “You two aren’t even fifteen yet, you’re practically newborns despite what humans years say!”  
“Ann’daaaa.” She whined. “Humans are weird, they judge themselves based on appearance.”   
“You could say the same about us high elves.” He frowned. “We are a pretty vain type of elves.”   
“At least we don’t kill each other over it.” Allara frowned. “Then again, what did the humans expect when they built… like five kingdoms, why don’t we do that?”   
“You know why.”

She groaned. “Because of the Sunwell.” While it’s magical energies kept their borders safe and powered their mages, it was why they didn’t expand farther. _Because it’s arcane energies have us bound…_ Unless you found an alternative source, elves weren’t gonna be far away from the Sunwell for months. 

Lucy meowed, sniffing prey. “You and Lucy have gotten close over the years.” Merledai hummed. “Maybe you two will bond.”  
“I don’t know, bonding is really rare.” Allara would love to be bonded to Lucy. But she knew how hard it was for one to bond with their animal companion. Her ears perked up. “A lynx.” She whispered, creeping over to where Lucy was. There was a large black lynx napping by the creek. 

“Your move.” Mereldai whispered. He watched as Allara ordered Lucy to alert the lynx with gestures, and as the lynx woke up and crept towards the noise Lucy was making, Allara shot it in the heart. “Good kill.” He hummed. “It’ll make a fine rug for our quarters.”  
“Thanks.” Allara dragged the dead lynx over. “Um, I feel better. Thanks Ann’da.” 

“You’re welcome.” Merledai hummed. “You don’t have to go back to lessons though.”

“Yeah, I’m sick of Talina calling me Mudrunner.” She groaned. “Rangers get dirty during the job, not my fault she’s a whiny b--”  
“Watch your tongue.” He scolded. “I’m having a word with your cousin for teaching you and Lireth those words.” He paused. “You are right though, Talina is one.”   
She giggled. “C’mon Luce, let’s beat dad home!” The two bolted back to the village, Merledai shouting “hey!” before running after them.

* * *

  
  
  


“C’mon, Allara.” Reyn chuckled. “You’ve been to Dalaran before.”  
“But not at a social gathering.” She whimpered, while Quel’Thalas was isolated from the Alliance, that doesn’t mean the races still mingled. Such mingling of the races was in Dalaran, the city of mages. She had been there before to see her cousin Varessa, and Verea when she moved there. _Because Mom and everyone in town asking who the father was drove her away._ She angrily remembered yelling at Talina for bringing it up one day. 

“I’m excited!” Lireth chuckled. “Prince Kael’Thas is gonna be there, and Cousin Sylvanas!”  
“I’m right here.” The latter chuckled. “Haven’t you been to parties at Stormwind, before?”   
“I didn’t like it.” Allara mumbled. “The… the prince guy from Loredaron kept bugging this lady.” She remembered chilling by the buffet table, and seeing the golden prince constantly follow this mage apprentice girl around.   
Sylvanas wore a neutral grin. “I didn’t know you saw that.” The Ranger-General curled her lip. “Prince Arthas better grow out of his immaturity, for the sake of his kingdom.” She was the one who got the prince to leave the mage alone afterwards, but Allara didn’t remember much else except admiring Stormwind’s beautiful queen.

Merledai cleared his throat, as they entered the citadel. “Well, Arthas isn’t here, so let’s not talk about the golden paladin. Don’t want to insult the stuffy nobles.” Allara’s ears winced as she heard the chatter of party-goers, and made a beeline for the buffet table, Lireth followed.  
“This is good food.” He took a boar leg and wolfed it down, but then his face grew hot. “Uh… need water!” He ran to get a drink.

Allara giggled. “Wow, that guy can’t hold down his spicy food well.” She heard a boy next to her comment, he was in Kirin Tor robes. The boy had messy blonde hair wrapped in a ponytail, and grey-ish blue eyes. “Hi, I’m Teras.”  
“I’m Allara.” She waved. “You’re a Kirin Tor mage?”   
“Yeah!” He beamed. “Are you a high elf?”   
“Mhm. We’re called quel’dorei though if you want to get technical.” 

“I’ve never met a high-- I mean quel’dorei with one green eye.” He noted. “My aunt says that some high elves got green eyes because of fel magic during the war.” He wasn’t being malicious, just curious.  
Allara nodded. “My dad got hit with fel magic, it made his eyes green. I guess he passed some of that onto me and my brother, Lireth.” She gestured to her brother, who was silently eating, ignoring the two. “What made you become a Kirin Tor mage?”   
“Well, I mostly went because of my aunt. She’s one as well. And I had some magic potential!” Teras exclaimed. “That and Kul Tiras is boring.”   
“You’re Kul Tiran?”   
“Yep! Loredaron too! Only on my mom’s side.” He grinned. “Where are you from in Quel’Thalas?”   
“Windrunner village.” 

“Cool!” Teras smirked. “I’m gonna mingle with some gnomes, nice chatting with you Allara.”  
“Bye.” She waved as he disappeared into the crowd.   
“Well, that was fun to watch.” Lireth hummed, walking up to her with a glass of water and a plate of smoked boar meat. “You’re good at mingling.”

“Thank you.” Allara smirked. “He’s much better to talk with then Stormwind folk, they’re so stuck-up on nobility.”  
“Children.” They tensed as Sylvanas walked over. “I hope you two aren’t busy.”   
“We’re not, much.” Lireth swallowed a piece of meat.   
Their cousin flashed her fangs in a grinning smirk. “I’d like to introduce you both to someone.”   
“Oh, my gosh. You’re Jaina Proudmoore!” Allara squealed. The ‘someone’ was heir to the Lord-Admiral throne, the blonde-haired mage known as Jaina. “From the Proudmoore family in Kul Tiras, I didn’t know Sylvanas is pen pals with you!”

Jaina found her excitement amusing. “It’s mostly her sister’s fault, she introduced us.” 

“Oh, sure, bring up Veressa.” Sylvanas commented from the back. 

Lireth raised an eyebrow. “Is Cousin Veressa here?”   
“Nope.”   
Both twins pouted, they hadn’t seen Veressa since their last visit to Dalaran, and that was when Verea moved a few years ago. “Awww.”   
“Jaina!” The mage winced as an elf in noble clothes sauntered over. Allara blinked as it was Prince Kael’Thas. “How lovely to see you!”   
Jaina looked anything but happy at that moment. “Nice seeing you too…” She winced.

“What do you want, Kael?” Sylvanas deadpanned. “We were having a conversation.” 

Allara felt her eyes widen at her cousin at how rude she was being to their prince! _He’s the future king! He could banish her for that attitude!_ But Kael’Thas merely huffed.

“Wonderful to see you too Sylvanas, you clearly have been under the influence of your pet human’s attitude.” He sneered.

Lireth tilted his head in confusion. “Sylvanas doesn’t have any pets, unless her horse counts.” 

“He’s insulting Mr. Marris.” Allara stage-whispered. She was aware of the prince’s distaste of the only human Ranger Lord, the only human Farstrider even for some reason. “I don’t know why, maybe he’s jealous that Nathanos is better at his job than the prince is good at his job.”  
The elven prince’s ears twitched. “I heard that you brat.” Allara flinched. 

“Kael!” Jana snapped, Kael’Thas faced the mage and winced at her angry glare. “You leave her alone!” 

Surprisingly, the elven prince complied. “As you wish Jaina. Wonderful to see you again.” And sauntered away.

“Uch.” Sylvanas twitched an ear from irritation. “I hate that man.”  
“Princes these days.” Jaina shook her head. “No manners.”   
Allara didn’t know what the two meant, but it wasn’t until her next encounter with a prince that she realized that Jaina meant it by heart.

* * *

The next fancy gathering was at Lordaeron, but least Allara got to see her sister Verea and her kids!  
“It’s good to see you dear.” Reyn had pulled her oldest daughter into a big hug. “I’m surprised you attended.”   
“Well, the kids like going to Lordaeron, they have sweet food.” Verea chuckled. “I kid you not, it’s rather sweet.” 

At the mention of treats, Verea’s triples ran over.  
“Minn’da I want sweets!” Tanven chirped.   
“Me too!” Ralden added.   
“Can we please get sweets?” Velarise batted her eyelashes, blue eyes pleading with her mother.

Verea sighed. “Look what you’ve done.” Reyn could only laugh at her grandchildren’s antics. 

“I can get them food!” Allara offered, giggling as the triplets mobbed over her and Lucy, the lynx was happy to attend the Pilgrim’s Bounty festival. 

“Light bless you, Allara.” Verea warmly smiled.  
She beamed. “No problem!” As her parents chatted with Verea, she, Lucy, and her brother took their nephews and niece over to one of the food stalls. 

“What do you guys want to eat?” Lireth cheerfully asked them.  
“The blood of our enemies!” Tanven and Velarise darkly stated.

Both of them winced. Lucy let out a concerned meow. “They want candy apples.” Ralden translated.

“Oh we can do apples.” Allara told them.

The two other triplets huff. “I’ll only eat them if they have blood!” Velarise shook her small fist in the air.  
“She also wants a fizzy drink.”   
“Thanks Ralden for speaking crazy-twin.” Her brother playfully ruffled their half-nephew’s head. “I’m still having trouble understanding Allara.”   
She bristled. “Hey!” 

The group laughed, ever her own lynx but she wasn’t bothered. They stepped towards one of the candied apple stands, which had a father and his teenage daughter helping serve the booth.  
“Wow. I thought all the elves lived up north because it was too cold for them.” The daughter curiously commented as Lireth was talking to her dad.   
“Most of us like sitting at home, we don’t like travelling. My sister’s family lives in Dalaran though like some of our kin, she likes coming to festivals so we’re visiting.” Allara explained.   
The daughter brushed some of her ginger locks out of her hair, brown eyes glittering with curiosity. “Cool. Anyways I’m Selene, my family likes serving our crops, we’re from Stratholme.”

“Oh, apple farm?” Allara raised an eyebrow.  
“Gee how did you guess?” Her sarcasm faded as her eyes zoned in on something. “I think one of your sister’s kids is about to get in trouble.”   
Allara whipped her head around. “What?!” She noticed that it was Velarise who had broken off from the group. Her little feet were padding towards a group of armored men by one of the apple bobbing stalls, her hands went to touch the cloaks of one of the men.   
“Wow, your cloak is so pretty!” Velarise mumbled, but the man stared at her half-niece like she was an ant. He yanked the cloak from under her and showed no guilt as she tripped.

“Keep your filthy little hands to yourself!” He spat, and it took barely a moment for Allara and her lynx to zip right over.

Lucy spat and hissed at the man who dared yelling at Velarise. “Leave my niece alone.” Allara spoke with barely restrained anger. 

The other men, who were wearing less shiny armor than the cloaked one drew their blades. “You best treat Prince Arthas with respect, _elf!_ ” A man in a stupid mustache spat.   
“Garithos.” The supposed prince gestured with a hand. “I’m sure this boy is aware that his niece should learn respect.” 

Her lynx hissed harder at the unintentional insult. “First off, I am not a he, I am a she.” Allara gently corrected, she guessed it was an accident after-all. “Second, Velarise is a _child_ , she shouldn’t learn respect from someone who barely gives it.” 

Arthas raised an eyebrow. “My apologies madam, you quel’dorei tend to look the same anyways.” _Rude._ But at last he didn’t misgender her again.

Garithos on the other hand… “Uhg, he’s one of _those_ elves. The disgusting kind that infect our people with those thoughts.” 

Allara felt her blood burn with anger, but the sharp pain in her chest prevented her from lashing out. She merely picked up Velarise, shooting a disgusted look at Garithos and Arthas, and walked back over to Lireth.

Tanven and Ralden were enjoying nice candy apples unaware of the small incident their sister got into. “Are you okay?” Lireth asked.  
“Prince Arthas is a jerk.” She placed Velarise down and leaned onto his shoulder. “He and one of his men called me a… a boy.”   
Lireth’s eyes widened. “Oh.” He shot a glare at the men. “Want me to chew them out? Prince or not, no one talks to my sister like that.”   
“Mm, I was mostly bothered by the stupid mustache guy. He acted like I was spreading the hawkstrider flu.”

“Wow. Humans can be dumb.” He shot a look at the candy apple stall. “No offense.”  
“None taken.” Selene’s father chirped. “King Terenas spoils that boy, one of these days he’s going to end up getting into a mess he can’t get out of.” 

Lireth snorted. “That tells you about a character if their own people know he’s a twat.” Lucy meowed in agreement.

“I don’t think I wanna come back to Loredaron anytime soon.” _Or at all._ If their prince and their guards were so rude, Allara didn’t want to breathe an inch near such a place.

Her brother reassuringly patted her shoulder. “Kay, we can tell Minn’da and Ann’da.”

* * *

Reyn and Merledai were very understandable, Verea outright wanted to commit regicide for the prince and his upsetting her sister and daughter. But at least they all got spiced turkey before leaving. “Sides, we could visit the festivities in Ironforge, they have good drinks.” Merledai suggested.  
“Good beer you mean?” Reyn raised an eyebrow. 

He started stammering. “It’s not like that!”   
“I wanna eat their pretzels.” Allara mumbled.   
“That’s a Brewfest item.” Lireth reminded her. “Next time we got to parties in less stinky kingdoms, or Stratholme. The candy apple guy was nice.” 

“How about them apples?” Merledai slyly commented, he got a groan from everyone, even Lucy. 

Reyn pinched the bridge of her nose. “Sometimes I question how you’re related to my boss.”  
“Heyyy!” But it was in good humor, and it cheered her up.

“I think we should bring Sylvanas to our next trip.” Allara said aloud. “Maybe she could come with us to Brewfest in Ironforge!”  
Merledai beamed at the idea. “Yeah, we can just kidnap-- I mean steal her away from work, and enjoy sweet pretzels and other stuff!”   
“You just wanna see your dear cousin go wild at a party, don’t you?” Reyn raised an eyebrow.   
“Maybe…?”   
Lucy let out a giggling meow at the thought, and so did Allara. Human and dwarf kingdoms were nice when not surrounded by royal jerks.

Although… she should’ve seen that candy apple guy’s comment about the prince as a sign that her world was about to turn awry. 

Maybe if she listened to that feeling of dread she had when around Arthas… she would’ve cherished moments like this more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *throws in some causal fluff n' stuff before getting to DEATH*
> 
> Talina's a mean girl all right. But at least Merledai can cheer his girl up afterwords  
> And Lireth is fiiiine, he eventally recovered well on that leg but he's pretty mad at Talina for that. 
> 
> And of course I had to add in Jaina! *eyes in Sylvania* I had to write her and Sylvanas as pen pals, so they can have wlw solidarity later on because of Prince Jerks!  
> Plural... Arthas is stinky, I mean he broke up w/ Jaina over a comment she made about future children like... boi?! Why do y'all keep acting like he's an uwu baby who did nothing wrong. Added in Garathos because who else is a TERF.  
> Merledai brings this up to Sylvanas one day and she makes a mental note to punch the guy in the face if she ever meets him. 
> 
> Allara: Hey kids what do you want to eat  
> Tanven and Velarise: The souls of the innocent  
> Ralden: A bagel  
> Tanven and Velarise: No!  
> Ralden: Two bagels
> 
> Some memes before I end this note. Next chapter will pick up plot but I wanted something nice and sweet before I get into that. Next update I hope will be before the year ends, but if not at least early Jan n.n;


	3. Finding Reyn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allara and her father go on a quest! It doesn't end well

The sound of branches snapping made Allara jolt. “Got you!” She yelped as a head of silvery-white hair tackled her. “Finally found you Cherry! You were the last one to find!”   
She groaned from the crash. “Elvia, did you have to tackle me so hard?” Allara glared back at those teasing teal blue eyes. 

“Well you would’ve bolted if I didn’t.” He remarked.  _ Classic Elvia Wildblossom, always jumping to dramatics.  _

Kreiel Velvetspark’s head popped up from a bush. “You found her?” He was a golden-haired elf with red streaks and dazzling blue eyes that captured the heart of many girls.    
“Finally!” Seri Silverbrook groaned. “It’s always Cherry who’s the last one to find in hide-and-seek. Stop picking all the hard spots!” Seri was a strawberry-red haired elf with a lighter shade of blue than her sister Talina, the youngest of the group by a few years. 

She playfully stuck her tongue out at her. “Maybe you should stop hiding by the creek!” 

“It’s a good spot when I get thirsty!”

The other boys laughed. “Maybe next round we should play hide and seek in the trees.” Seri suggested. “At least it makes it easier to find Cherry.”   
“Hey!” Allara huffed. “Next time I go with my ann’da in Dalaran I’m not getting you sweet rolls!” She was merely teasing, she just couldn’t refuse to bring her friends any gifts from joining her dad’s trips. 

“We should get back to town.” Kreiel told them. “Minn’da wants me to help with her delivery to Fairbreeze.”   
“That’s a few days away!” Elvia noted. “Your girlfriend is gonna be bummed out.”   
“Talina isn’t my girlfriend!” He glared. “She’s so rude, especially to poor Cherry! She even broke Lireth’s leg by scaring him out of a tree!”   
“Yeah, she did.” Allara winced at the memory, and how she reacted. “At least she stopped calling me a demon after awhile…”

Seri gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder. “Hey, I’m sorry my sister is a bully.”   
“Not your fault. There’s always some bad blood in the family.” Allara pointed out. “I mean probably on my cousin’s side. I don’t know why my namesake liked some paladin guy, they’re so stuck-up!”   
“Heyyy.” The strawberry-red haired elf glared, she wanted to be a paladin when she was older.

Kreiel rolled his eyes. “Let’s just get back home before our parents call a ranger to come find us.”   
“Agreed.” They chorused. 

* * *

“What?!” She gaped at her brother. “You’re leaving us!”   
“I’m not!” Lireth protested. “I just said I was coming with Cousin Sylvanas on her ranger duties!”   
“Same thing! And you do that when it’s the weakest part of the year!” 

“Just say winter, the humans do!”   
“We don’t have snow!”   
“Well we do in--”   
“CHILDREN!” Both of them turned as Sylvanas shot them a glare. “We’re on patrol. Keep your argument at a lower volume.”   
“Fine…” Both of them grumbled. It was a rare occasion when the Ranger-General had the two accompany them for official ranger business, mostly patrols and minor scouting parties by villages.

The Ranger Lord accompanying them chuckled. “Ah kids, my cousin argues with his friends like that. It’s mostly harmless my lady.”   
“I’d prefer if they didn’t argue about Lireth’s internship, Nathanos.” Sylvanas replied. “It’s an honor to learn from the farstriders at such a young age, not even considered adults in human years!”

Lireth beamed from the compliment. “I wish Allara could go!”   
Sylvanas winced. “Well, your sister… she uh…”   
“Sylvanas asked if I wanted one and I said not.” Allara replied, Lucy meowing in agreement. 

“What, why?!” 

“Because I don’t wanna leave Minn’da and Ann’da.” She glared at Lireth. “Sunwell’s sake you’re leaving before Minn’da gets back from visiting Verea!”   
Nathanos chuckled. “I know the feeling. The next time I saw my cousin after I joined the farstriders was months.”   
“Hey Mr. Nathanos?” Lireth turned to him. “Does it hurt being away from your family? I know that some elves aren’t nice to you just because you’re human and all, but you’re a cool ranger!”   
The Ranger Lord hummed with amusement. “It doesn’t hurt as much as it used to, all birds leave the nest someday.”   
“I guess.” Allara frowned. “But… I just want some more time before I become a farstrider, I wanna visit Stormwind again before I have to stay in Quel’Thalas forever.”   
“Allara… you can visit other places and still be a farstrider.” Sylvanas told her.   
She whined. “Yeah but I’d feel bad! And when’s the last time you saw your sister Veressa? And Dalaran is way closer than Stormwind!” 

“That’s because I’m Ranger-General, it keeps me busier.”   
“Yeah, I’m gonna be the first Sunrunner Ranger-General!” Lilith added. “So don’t worry about me!”   
She frowned. “If you say s--”   
“SYLVANAS!” 

Both kids yelped as their Ann’da came crashing in, mounting Plucky with a look of horror on his face. “Merledai?” Sylvanas’s ears flattened at his horrified expression. “What happened?”   
“News from Loredaron. There is a plague that raises the dead going around… there’s even a rumor that their own prince slaughtered all of Stratholme because it was infected! Whether or not someone had been sick or not.”    
“Prince Arthas killed his own people?” Nathanos had a look of shock. 

“Yeah. And… Reyn isn’t back yet.” Merledai looked at his children. “Allara, Lireth, come with me. We’re bringing her home.”   
Allara stared at him. “But you said that there’s a plague--”   
“Only if you eat plagued grain! And we quel’dorei can live off of hearty apples and fish.” He pointed out. 

She nodded.  _ If anything happened to Minn’da it would kill me!  _ “Alright. I’m coming with you.” 

“Allara! Don’t be dumb!” Lireth blinked at her. “You can’t go!”   
_ How dare he tell me when he’s leaving!  _ “Funny you should say that since you’re going to play farstrider! Is your career more important than our Minn’da?!”   
“No but I’m not throwing my life away on a death mission!” He shouted. “You’ll get yourself killed!”   
“At least I’d die to save my Minn’da, you’d die a coward hiding behind our borders!” He looked away in shame.

The feeling of a gloved hand gripping her shoulder made Allara’s eyes widen. “Kids. Please don’t argue like this.” Sylvanas had a strange look in her eyes. “It may be a long time before you see eachother again.”   
“Yeah because Allara’s gonna get herself killed!” Lireth cried out. “I don’t want her to die!”   
“You can’t stop your sister from leaving, Lireth.” Her ears were pointed down. “I tried when Alleria was going through the Dark Portal, and the last time I spoke with her was… well it didn’t end well.” Tears brimmed in her eyes. “Don’t repeat what I did… don’t let the last words you hear from eachother out of hate and anger.” 

_ I had no idea that happened.  _ Allara’s eyes were wide with horror. She had always heard great praise about Alleria from everyone, including Sylvanas.  _ To think the last time she spoke with her was because of an argument?  _ “I’m sorry Lireth.” She hugged her brother. “I just can’t leave Minn’da to her fate.”   
“I know, you’ll bring her back Cherry. You’re a hero like that.” He sniffled. “Remember when a flood happened and Tanven almost drowned? You pulled him out of the water and brought him back to life…”   
“I just did what our parents told us to do if someone swallowed water!”   
“Same thing!” They giggled. “I’ll see you soon, even if it’ll take awhile.” Allara smiled. “I love you bro.”   
“Love you too sis.” He sniffled, pulling away. “Now kick some undead butt!”   
Nathanos smirked at the exchange. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.” However his gaze darkened. “I hope my farm is alright… I may have to check on them if there’s a plague going around.”

“Talk about your travel plans later.” Sylvanas replied as Allara picked up Lucy and hopped onto Plucky. “Good luck Merledai.”

He smirked. “Thanks. I won’t return until I bring Reyn to Quel’Thalas, and that’s a promise.”

* * *

The journey outside the borders was rough. It had been raining non-stop, as if nature wanted them to turn back. Merledai replied with a crude hand gesture at the clouds and made frequent stops to travelling posts and villages to avoid the worst of the storms. 

“We’ll stop here for the night.” He said as they walked inside an inn, they had traveled enough to be in a small town named Brill. “Storm’s getting bad.” 

As Allara squeezed some of the water out of her hair and Lucy shook her red coat, she noted that the townsfolk looked worse for wear, except for the dwarven travelers drinking their bellies full by the bar. “Can I go mingle?” She looked up at her Ann’da.    
“Sure. Watch your drink, don’t order any alcohol.” He told her, she flashed him a thumbs up and walked over the counter.

The bartender had the same dead tired look as the townsfolk. “Flu going around?” Allara asked him as Lucy hopped onto her lap, the lynx sniffing the rotten scent plaguing the bar. 

“Eh, must’ve been something in the shipment.” The bartender shrugged. “Trust me, it’s not because of the beer.” 

“Not to us!” One of the dwarves boasted. “Great as ever William!”   
“Thanks.”

As William placed a tray of food, Lucy wrinkled her nose at the bartender’s scent, while Allara flinched at the bread.  _ Ann’da said to not eat any break because it might be plagued.  _ “Um, when you said shipment do you mean grain?”   
“Yep.” The bartender replied. “A few towns down the road reported there may be something in the grain. Probably a bunch of greedy goblins who want more rations. Bread never did anyone wrong!”   
“Uh-huh…” Judging by the rotten scent in the inn and how sick the people looked, Allara didn’t want to eat the bread on her plate. “Um, thank you for the meal sir.” She tossed the coins in her pocket and bolted to Merledai, who was chatting with a fellow elf traveller.”   
“Ann’da! The grain in the town is plagued!” She reported.    
His eyes widened. “Oh jeez. Well, it’s too stormy to go out, we’d die of hypothermia if we camped in this weather.” Merledai turned back to her. “So we’re going to have to stay here and hope this town can last one more night before going all walking dead.”   
Allara gulped nervously. “We’re doomed.”   
Lucy meowed in agreement.

* * *

Fortunately the innkeeper was fine with them having a room right near the exit, and being able to bring their weapons and barricade the door. “Some people come in escaping from bad partners, you two are fine.” She reassured them, Allara was surprised the lady didn’t look as dead as the rest of the down, she hoped the innkeeper would still be alive even if Brill didn’t survive the plague. 

“Meow.” Lucy crawled onto her bed, her Ann’da was too wound up to sleep on the bed so he was lying on his sleeping bag by the font in case someone came knocking. 

“I know, Luce.” She pulled the lynx closer. “I miss Minn’da. I miss Lireth, and I miss Sylvanas.” 

Lucy nodded in agreement. “I keep hearing townsfolk talk about Stratholme, I hope Selene is okay. Y’know, the apple vendor at the festival? She and her dad were nice.”

“If they were from Stratholme, they’re probably dead.” Merledai told her. “I heard it from a travelling man who was part of the group. Arthas ordered his men to slaughter the city, those who didn’t want to take part left with Proudmoore and Uther.”   
“Proudmoore as in Jaina Proudmoore?” A nod answered her. “I knew a friend of my cousin wouldn’t agree with Prince Brattiness!”

Merledai nodded. “Indeed.”   
“What happened to him anyway? Is he in jail?”   
“No one knows. There’s a rumor that he went hiding in Northrend to avoid his father’s wrath, but everyone knows Terenas spoils his son. Even put him in the line of succession above his older sister.”    
“Wow. What a great king.” Allara sarcastically replied. “Ours isn’t much better, Kael’Thas is a creep. He’s older than Jaina and Sylvanas combined and  _ still  _ flirts with them.”   
Her Ann’da made a face at the thought. “Ech. Reyn may be older than me, but at least we were both adults when we dated.” At the mention of Reyn, his smile faltered.   
“How did you and Minn’da meet?” She tried changing the subject.

“We were both in the same infirmary after the orc attack.” He explained. “Then we were both put on hunting duties, the two of us got the rest of the troops fed for the rest of campaign, and she was there for me when I was recovering from that warlock spell.” 

“Aww. We’re gonna find her, and we can help her recover from being in plague territory.”

“Heh, true.” 

_ BANG!  _

* * *

Allara jolted as a gunshot rang around the inside, as well as the pungent scent of death growing strong. “Oh, no.” Merledai groaned. “We should’ve taken our chances with the storm.”   
As he said that, there was a knock on the door. “Oy! Fellow travellers!” One of the dwarves shouted from the other side. “The inn turned into an undead house. Me and my brothers are trying to get everyone out, come on!” 

“Least you’re not dead or infected!” He shouted to the dwarf as he opened the door. “What’s your name?”   
“Soren.” The ginger-haired dwarf with an impressive beard replied. “Ivan and Gabe managed to get everyone who wasn’t a corpse up, inn’s been cleared out. You two got names?”   
“Merledai, this is my daughter Allara and her companion lynx Lucy.” He explained. “We’ll join you in a second.”   
“Right. Be careful!” Soren then walked downstairs as he was refilling his shotgun. 

“Ann’da?” Allara whispered. “Is it going to be okay?”

The look in his eyes made her flinch. “Sweetie…” He pulled something from his pockets. “If anything goes south, I want you to use this.” Merledai handed her a stone with a swirling blue center.

“Minn’da’s hearthstone.” She blinked. “Why do you want me to have this?”   
“This isn’t an ordinary hearthstone, it leads to a certain place far away. We went there for the honeymoon period, and it’s a place to have some alone time.” Merledai smiled fondly at the memories of romance and passion he’d have with Reyn when it was just them.

“Ewww.” Allara made a face, Lucy joined her in that matter.

He rolled his eyes. “Anyways, when I tell you too, or I die, you use this.”    
“I don’t want you to die!”   
“I won’t, but in case I do…” He handed her the stone. “Use it. Don’t question if I tell you, just do it.” 

She slowly nodded. “Okay. But since I’m not gonna have to use it, let’s get out of here and go save Minn’da!” 

As they joined the dwarves, Allara got her first look of the undead. The humans had dull greyish-green skin, cold yellow eyes, withering hair, and they sometimes had bones, blood and even ooze pouring from their bodies. Needless to say, Lucy did not attack with her teeth, she stayed by Allara and gave warning growls when one got too close. “Least we’re putting them out of their misery.” She murmured as she shot another undead down.  _ Are they sentient but trapped in their own minds as undead? Or are they ghosts watching their bodies run rampant? What if half of their soul is cut when they’re brought back?  _ All these questions, yet no answers. 

The survivors of the inn had run between the two groups of the dwarf brothers, with Soren sticking by the elves as they managed to escape on their steeds. “We can rejoin the others by the pass!” Soren shouted as he mounted his ram. 

“Go on ahead!” Merledai told him, shooting a ghoul that got close to the dwarf. “We’ll catch up.”   
“Light be with ye!” The dwarf told them as he rode to the other survivors. 

* * *

But as Allara got onto Plucky with her Ann’da, he rode the other way. “Where are we going?!”   
“This way is closer to Loredaron.” He explained. “We can’t waste our time, the people will be fine, and the undead will go after them.”   
_ What is he saying?!  _ “So you’re okay with them going on their own? What if the undead kill them because we couldn’t help hold them off?” She questioned. When Merledai said nothing, she felt a boiling anger despite the cold rain pouring on her. “Would Minn’da be proud of you for abandoning citizens to the undead?! Would Lireth and Sylvanas be proud of you for being a coward?! We have to help them!”   
“Allara keep your voice down--”   
“YOU’RE WILLING TO LET PEOPLE  _ DIE _ BECAUSE YOU THINK IT’S A WASTE OF YOUR TIME!”

“IT’S NOT THAT!” Merledai screamed. “I can’t risk losing you! What would Sylvanas say?! You’re one of her last reminders of Alleria! Reyn would want me to keep you alive! The people of Brill will be fine, but I won’t if you’re gone…”   
She realized then, how  _ scared  _ her Ann’da was. “I’m sorry--”   
But she’d never get to finish, as a ghoulish hand grabbed Plucky and dragged him to the ground. “Run!” Merledai scooped her up as more ghouls came out and attacked the hawkstrider. She clenched her eyes as she heard the sounds of them tearing into Plucky’s flesh, and the sounds of her Ann’da shooting down undead.

Then he stopped. “What’s going on?” She opened her eyes, around a ring of dead guards, was an undead elf. With pale blonde hair and deathly white skin and eerie red eyes with the scent of withering decay around her.

But Allara knew her Minn’da’s cloak and outfit when she saw it. “Minn’da?” She gasped in horror.

“Reyn… no…” Merledai gasped, even Lucy meowed in horror. 

Then, a human with pale white hair and ghostly blue eyes emerged with a glowing sword. “I recognize you…” He said in a familiar voice. “Shame your mission was a failure.”   
“Prince Arthas?” Allara gasped. “The undead got you too?!”   
“I think he was on their side the moment he killed his own people.” Merledai growled. “Allara, use the hearthstone. I’ll kill this bastard for what he did to his own people.” 

“But--”   
“ _ That’s an order! _ ” He screamed as Reyn charged at them, smiling when his daughter picked up Lucy and used the hearthstone, teleporting away. “Now, I may not have been able to save you Reyn, but I will put you to rest!” 

* * *

And they battled, sword and bow in hand, until Merledai got too close and felt the pain of a sword in his chest. “Do you really think I’d let you live?” Arthas pulled his sword away. “Any last words?”   
_ If I’m going down with my free will stripped and my body used against my people… I'm not letting him see my fear.  _ He spat at the prince’s boots. “Jokes on you… you’ll never get my children, they’re safe away from your clutches, you can’t even keep a girlfriend… and I doubt you’ll be able to keep your reign of terror, I hope I’m still around to watch, and that undead can eat popcorn.” 

Arthas flared. “You dare make jokes?! I will come for Quel’Thalas and make you kill your sons yourself!”   
“Uhg, no wonder Jaina dumped you…” Merledai coughed up blood. “My son will get away. My daughter… she’ll end up being your downfall.”   
“We’ll see.” Arthas sneered, and as the light faded from Merledai’s green eyes, his sword glowed, and the body rose once more.

Except it was a cold twisted version of the beloved father, with pale skin and hair and ice blue eyes like the death knight.

And who knows if another one of his kin would be next to fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merledai??! Merledai?!  
> omfg he frikking dead.  
> I kind of rushed this bc writer's block suuuucks. So my bad n.n;

**Author's Note:**

> *takes a sip of kool-aid and does a kickflip*  
> Surprise binches thought you'd see the last of me making warcraft fics
> 
> yeah still not happy with the company or game lore but I decided that since y'all liked the old story I might as well not let some stupid misogynists' ruin why I liked these games.  
> For the adventure! And memes, also memes.  
> Updates will be sporadically since this is a backburner for my other works, but I'll try not to wait until 2 months to update hahaha n.n; no promises


End file.
